I have little respect for NCAA teams that assemble foreign XC Teams

I agree… and takes away scholarships from 18 & 19 year olds.

I think we should try to avoid complaining for a few more months. There's no guarantee these imports are going to perform well in WISCONSIN in late November.

Also, give some of the homegrown kids a break. Yes, they don't have the eye-popping road times as some of the Kenyan runners, but when do they have a chance to race on the roads?

It is like the people on this thread were born yesterday. This has been going on since at least the early '70s. Those UTEP and Washington State XC teams were comprised of almost entirely of east Africans. Many other teams included Brit and Irish runners during that period. Guys like Neil Cusak, Eamonn Coghlan, Nick Rose were around then along with the Africans. Just like today.

People are running faster than ever. It's not that 18 year and 19 year olds aren't fast enough or talented enough. It's the fact that they need more time before they can beat a foreigner over the age of 25 that has run a sub 60 half marathon.

How about Irish, British, Aussies? Those are okay?

What about 25 year old Mormons? Good to go?

I think the reason for his specification of East African is due to the massive trend in recruiting services being used for exactly that purpose.

I would argue against all of those as I think an age limit is the best way to handle it. The home country of the runner isn't what the issue is.

Why do you think that? Tons of white foreigners competing at the NCAA level

I think there are two different distinctions here:

1) Schools who recruit INTERNATIONAL athletes who typically fit within the normal age range of 18-19 coming out of high school or 21-22 for graduate school

2) Schools who recruit INTERNATIONAL athletes who they claim are "freshman" but are really 24-25 years old

I think most fans/coaches/athletes would genuinely agree than if an 18-19 year old from Africa/England/Australia/etc. wants to come to the US, so be it.

The issue is almost ALL of the "age cheating" international athletes do hail from a specific region and coaches don't even seem to be hiding ages anymore.

This is 100% the distinction that needs to be made. The problem now isn't that there is international students coming in, its the fact that somehow they are getting freshmen eligibility, when they've seemingly been a "professional" runner in the past. I'm not sure how some of them are getting eligibility AT ALL. If they weren't being paid to run, how were they living in their home countries? I remember this point being brought up about Kipngetich from OKST last year. Also, checking in on Brian Musau's age (also from OKST), World athletics has his birthdate as December 29th 2006??? which would have made him 16 during last years national championship, I'm lmaoing at that one.

I 100% agree. The problem is age, idc where they come from. Cap eligibility at 23 or 24.

You guys sure cry a lot. Get rid of age. Get rid of the 5 year rule. Just allow 4 years of eligibility regardless of when used.

So you would be okay if wejo had been drafted by Middle Podunk State instead of weaseling into Yale? That is your perfect solution. How amazing that would have been.

There’s way too much focus on nationality and accusations of racism in here. The issues is 100% age based, I don’t think anyone is okay with a 27 year old Australian and not a 27 year old Kenyan. That’s the root of the problem, the 27, not the country. No one would be saying anything if these were 19 year olds coming over here.

It’s an NCAA rules issue that, like with all rules, has good intentions. Say a kid joins the military out of high school and wants to attend college afterwards and play a sport. Should that be allowed if that person is 25 years old and a freshman?

Look at NCAA football, theres a 31 year old kicker playing for Colorado State.

Explain to me how this is a foreigners issue and not an age limit issue.

Yet OP specified East Africans

But at least that’s the silver lining. My runner (rising senior) just wrapped up all visits and got offered between 60-100% at six different P4s so at least scholarships are still being offered strongly to American high schoolers.

As I said in another post, Mormon boys are going to continue to go on two year missions. Those that choose to go on missions will be two years older than their peers. If you feel that taking a two year break from training is advantageous to your ultimate running goals, there are no rules precluding you from doing so. In fact, it is within NCAA rules to take two years between high school and college and run 100 miles a week as long as you don't race after the first year removed from high school and still have 4 years of eligibility when you start college. Where some schools might be in violation of the age rule is that after their first year post high school, if an athlete has competed then their 5 year clock should have started.

The advantage that BYU has that others don't is that the LDS church has the infrastructure to support this two year hiatus from training and school. Culturally the LDS religion encourages 18 year olds to take the two years off for missionary service and then sends them around the world to places that have an organization in place to manage their service, keep them safe and housed. These kids have either saved money to pay for their missions or in most cases are supported financially by their families. They are not paid for their 60 hours plus of proselyting per week, but rather pay from their own account 400.00 per month for the privilege.

BYU (Eyestone) has also figured out how to manage his roster so he can get these guys off their missions, red-shirt them at least one or two semesters until they are back in shape and then put them back into action. The result is that at any given time he has 20% of his roster redshirting as they get back in shape.

I have a lot easier time getting behind a 24 year old American senior who has taken two years away from school on his own dime, then for an older ringer brought in from a foreign country. Especially when these Americans go on to represent the US so well in international competition like Rooks, Mantz and Young.

Also, not every athlete at BYU chooses to serve a mission. Those that do will be only 2 years older. I have seen posts indicating ages of 27 etc. This is hyperbole. When the COVID extra year sorts itself out, there would be no reason that a BYU athlete would be more than two years older than any other "traditional" NCAA athlete.

If the two year returned missionary is such an advantage, other schools should invest in the opportunity to reap the benefit. The truth, besides the obvious cultural draw to BYU for returned missionaries, is that most NCAA coaches don't have the patience to wait two years for the prized LDS high schooler to return from a mission and then take an extra year to get the out of shape returned missionary back into racing condition. Until other schools decide to take that gamble, this will be the BYU advantage.

In their defense, the running community isn’t very strong in most of those places. You look at a place like Albuquerque or El Paso, and there aren’t many good American runners that would want to risk their life living in a god forsaken place like that.

I mean, if you are going to shame some program, shame Northern Arizona. People actually want to live in Flagstaff.